How Tom Holland came to lead the new "Spider-Man"

Writer: Florey DM

Tom Holland is the new Spidey.

24 Jun – Several days ago, English actor and dancer Tom Holland posted several videos on Instagram showing off his acrobatic moves. Now we know (okay, presumably), the 19-year-old was just giving a sneak preview of what the audience could expect from him as the new Spider-Man.

Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios announced today that Holland will be the new face of the "Spider-Man" franchise, starting from the 2017 Marvel-Sony reboot.

Though prior to the 2017 standalone movie that will kickstart the new trilogy, Holland will be making his Spidey debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016's "Marvel's Captain America: The Civil War".

Spider-Man will only be making a cameo, however, as revealed by Variety, which was why the studios were not rushing the casting process – the web-slinging superhero will only be filming for "Civil War" for about a week.

Holland was neck and neck with another English actor, Charlie Rowe, in getting the part. The same age actors were the last two chosen for the final screen test, beating other teen actors Asa Butterfield, Judah Lewis, Matthew Lintz and Charlie Plummer; who are all within the 14 to 19 age range as the producers aim to cast a Peter Parker that actually looks like a high school student.

The six were chosen out of 1,500 actors, and later did a screen test with Robert Downey Jr., whose Iron Man character will appear in "Civil War" alongside Spider-Man.

Charlie Rowe congratulating Holland on Twitter.

After whittling down the choices to just Holland and Rowe, with the former being the frontrunner, the duo had to go through a second test, though it was noted by The Hollywood Reporter that only Holland got the chance to test separately with Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, a.k.a. Captain America himself.

The upcoming reboot will be helmed by Jon Watts, the American director best known for supernatural horror movie, "Clown", and road thriller movie, "Cop Car".

The new "Spider-Man" reboot will swing into North American cinemas on 28 July 2017.

(Photo source: SanDiegoRed)